Letters 81.32

Our madness has gone to such lengths that it is a very dangerous thing to confer great benefits upon a person; for just because he thinks it shameful not to repay, so he would have none left alive whom he should repay. “Keep for yourself what you have received; I do not ask it back; I do not demand it. Let it be safe to have conferred a favour.” There is no worse hatred than that which springs from shame at the desecration of a benefit. Farewell.

Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 81.32, translated by Richard Mott Gummere